


Place to Rest

by winterwind



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-08
Updated: 2012-11-08
Packaged: 2017-11-18 05:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterwind/pseuds/winterwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Honestly, Steve isn't sure if Tony hates the cold as much as he says he does or if he's just looking for an excuse to stay in Steve's dorm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Place to Rest

**Author's Note:**

> Because it's snowing in Manhattan in November.
> 
> Title from Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart." _Everybody needs a place to rest // everybody wants to have a home._

Steve is curled up on his bed under a blanket with his history textbook and a cup of tea when his phone vibrates.  After a moment or two of twisting awkwardly in an attempt to find it, his hand curls around it and he flips it open to find a text from Tony. 

_It’s too fucking cold to be alive right now. I’m probably going to die of hypothermia before I get to my apartment._

Steve can’t help but smile.  In Tony’s defense, it _is_ cold outside.  The snow has been falling for a few hours now, covering their campus in a blanket of white.  But Tony tends to exaggerate, especially about the cold.  Poor Miami boy isn’t used to the cold like Steve is.

Before he can respond, he gets another text.

_Fuck this.  My apartment’s too far away. I’m coming over._

Steve sighs.  He knows he really should get started on the chapters his professor assigned for Monday, but he has all tomorrow to get it done.  Besides, Tony’s completely had tunnel vision on his final project that’s due in a few weeks and Steve has barely seen him all week.

 _My door is open_ , he texts back and tries to get as much reading done as he can before Tony arrives.

A few minutes later, his door is flung open.  Unimpressed, Steve looks up slowly, quirking an eyebrow, before bursting into laughter.

Tony is _drenched_ from the snow, his clothes and poor excuse for a coat hanging off of him.  There’s an excess of snow in his hair and a miserable expression on his face.  The look overall makes him look like a wet cat.

“Stop laughing!” Tony says grumpily.  “It’s not funny.  This weather is sent straight from hell.  If I believed in God, I’d probably think he was trying to smite me.”

Steve just shakes his head goodheartedly and leaves the warmth of his bed to cross over to his boyfriend.  He shuts the door and brushes the snow out of Tony’s hair.

“I trudged here through the elements to see you and I don’t even get a kiss hello?” Tony says, pouting slightly.

“You only left the lab because Bruce yelled at you, don’t lie to me,” Steve teases but leans down all the same to press his lips to Tony’s.  They feel like ice against his own tea-warmed mouth.

“That’s not entirely true,” Tony says, dumping his bag and letting Steve help him peel off his coat.  “I wanted to see you too.”

Steve throws the soaked coat in his laundry basket.  “How’s the project coming?”

“It’s coming along, but the programming’s being fussy.  He’ll respond to certain commands, but I just can’t get him to understand— Trying to get me naked already?” he adds when Steve pulls off his shirt.  Steve rolls his eyes.  “Hey, I’m not complaining, I just—”

“Tony, you’re going to catch pneumonia if you stay in these wet clothes.”  He crosses over to his dresser to grab him some warm clothes.

“Well, that’s less fun than I’d hoped.”

All of Steve’s clothes are enormous on Tony in the most endearing way possible.  The territorial part of him swells when he sees Tony in his sweatshirt and sweatpants, rolled up sleeves and all.

When Tony finishes changing, he straddles Steve where he’s sitting on the bed.  Steve’s hands immediately go to Tony’s lower back.  Tony is deceptively strong despite his smaller frame and Steve can feel his muscles even through the layers.

“Is Thor coming home soon?” Tony asks, leaning down to kiss him.  His lips are less cold now and Steve leans into the kiss, sliding his hands up Tony’s back to pull him closer.  Tony’s mouth is familiar to him now, seeing as he’s had seven months to explore it and all its wonders, but it still thrills Steve to feel his lips pressing against his own.

“No,” he says when they finally break apart, leaning his forehead against Tony’s.  “Jane’s in town from New Mexico, so he’s spending the weekend in her hotel.”

“Mmmm,” Tony hums, kissing Steve again, more fiercely this time.  He yanks Tony closer, slipping his tongue into his mouth when he gasps.  Tony’s hand finds its way to the back of his head, pulling him closer and ruffling the hair at the base of his neck.

In one swift move, Steve flips them, so that he’s got Tony pinned to the bed beneath them.  Tony immediately leans up, trying to capture Steve’s mouth once more, but Steve grabs his wrists and holds them down.  The way Tony’s eyes dilate and darken at the motion makes Steve’s stomach drop.  Tony grinds his hips up against Steve’s.

“Hey, hey,” Steve says, pulling his hips away slightly.  “There’s no rush.  We’ve got all weekend.”

“And we should make the most of it,” Tony says, trying to wriggle out from Steve’s iron grip.

“Can I have a second to look at you at least?  Please?”

Tony sighs and flops down dejectedly.  Steve laughs lightly.  He combines Tony’s wrists, so he can hold them both with one hand, and uses his free hand to cup Tony’s face, brushing a thumb against his cheek.  Tony leans into it ever so slightly and Steve angles his chin so he has to look him in the eye.

“You look tired,” Steve tells him, because it’s true.  The circles under his eyes are darker than any 18 year old’s should be.

“Gee, thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.  I think you forget sometimes that you need to eat and sleep like a normal person.”

“Being normal is overrated,” Tony says with a shrug.

“You don’t seem to mind me so much.”

“You?” Tony asks, incredulous.  “You are far from normal, babe.  One of these days you’ll finally realize that.”

Steve drops his head to hide the dopey smile that he can’t stop.  Tony takes advantage of the distraction and wriggles his hands out from Steve’s grasp.  He flips them, Steve’s back hitting the bed as Tony straddles his hips, and nearly knocks them off the tiny dorm bed in the process.  Steve reaches out and grabs his desk to steady them before wiggling them back to the center of the bed.  Once there, Tony pins his shoulders down with his hands.

He raises a challenging eyebrow.

Steve never could back down from a challenge.

It winds up escalating into a full-blown wrestling match as they vie for control.  It’s a close fight, but, in the end, Steve’s endurance beats out Tony’s intensity and he pins Tony down by the shoulders.

“In any case,” Steve says, panting slightly, “you should take care of yourself.”

“Maybe I’d be more inclined to if you gave me some incentive,” Tony suggests, rolling his hips.

Steve leans down, so that his lips are just out of Tony’s reach.  “Yeah?” he asks, rocking his hips, and Tony bites back a moan.

If someone had told Steve a year ago that he’d be using sex as an incentive for a boy genius to remember to eat and sleep, he would have looked at them like they had lost their mind.  But here he was and, frankly, there was nowhere he’d rather be.  He can’t imagine what his life would be like if he’d stayed home that night like he’d wanted to instead of going to that party where Rhodes had first introduced them.

“I’m so sorry, Cap,” the running back had said, “but he wouldn’t leave me alone until I introduced him.  Tony, this is Steve.  Steve, I hope you forgive me for this someday, but this is Tony.”

That had been the first moment he’d locked eyes with him.  It hadn’t been a remarkable moment at the time, but, looking back, Steve can’t shake the feeling that he’d felt the connection even then.

Tony had held out a hand and Steve had taken it, simple as that.

“Good to meet you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, I’m sure,” Tony had said with a smirk that Steve had come to know was all bravado and no heart.

That was the beginning of them as Steve-and-Tony.  It wasn’t always easy.  In fact, a lot of the time it was one of the hardest things in his life.  They were both so busy: Steve with football practice and art projects and Tony with his double major and his programming.  They got into vicious fights, where they both dug too deep and said things that should never be said.  On more than one occasion, Steve had thought about throwing in the towel.  But at the end of the day, they always found their way back to each other, laughing and joking and embarrassing their mutual friends with the sheer force of how much they loved each other.

“Oh, my God, Tony, your feet are like icicles!” he cries out, arching his back in an attempt to get them off.

“Maybe if you kiss me again, I’ll think about moving them.”

“Oh, that’s how you want to play it?”

“Yeah, it is.”

So Steve lurches down and captures his mouth in a rough kiss that surprises Tony enough to drop his freezing feet off his back, making Steve laugh into his mouth in victory. Tony bites at his lip in retaliation and things get a lot less playful and a lot more dirty. 

\----

When Thor comes back two nights later, Tony is still over and Steve is trying in vain to get his reading done, propping his book against his legs as Tony sleeps curled around him.

“How’s Jane?” he asks.

“She is well,” Thor says with a fond smile.  “It is most fortunate that she had a cause to come.  I take it your weekend was satisfactory?”

Steve looks over at Tony, feels him breathing against him, and says warmly, “Yeah.  It was nice.”

He presses a kiss into his hairline and Tony nuzzles his shoulder.  With a sigh, he closes his textbook, turns off his desk lamp, pulls Tony in closer, and settles down to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone was wondering, his project is DUM-E.


End file.
